It seems that Mitch Joel and I are becoming the Social Media Odd Couple. I like Mitch. He’s smart. It’s just that I think he is so frequently wrong.
Like in his latest post, “Being a Twitter Snob is a Good Thing” when he states “it annoys many people when they follow you on Twitter and you do not follow them back. Too bad. Don’t do it.”
Mitch lives the life of a Twitter snob, exclusively following only the most select and obviously interesting people. His reasons:
- It is a way to de-clutter a cluttered social media world.
- Having select Twitter followers reflects better on your taste in connections
- Having an appearance of exclusivity adds to your credibility
Before I respectfully rip Mitch a new one, let me provide two points about my own Twitter strategy:
1) I absolutely block any obvious spammers, MLM marketers and list-builders from my Twitter stream because I do not advocate these business practices. So to that extent, I am not a person who follows everybody.
2) It is a free world and you should follow any Twitter strategy that makes sense to you, including Mitch’s.
Now, having said that, Mitch my dear friend — You. Just. Don’t. Get. It.
Reza Malayeri is exactly the type of person Mitch would not follow. He is an unassuming employee of a Veterans Administration Hospital in Seattle. He has a 147 Twitter followers, none of them are “A-List” by Mitch’s standards.
A couple of months ago, Reza sent out a random, funny tweet that made me laugh out loud. We had an exchange of corny comments and soon I was looking forward to seeing him in my Twitter stream. Reza made a real effort to connect by following my blog, commenting and sending me jokes.
Last week I spoke to Reza for the first time. I found out that he is a disabled U.S. Veteran. He is an awesome parent. He’s helping out his father by putting a family business online after working all day at the hospital. And after connecting with another member of the {grow} community, Arminda Lindsay, he was inspired to develop, sponsor and promote a Breast Cancer Awareness charity event in his hometown.
Folks, this man is a hero.
He is an A-List human being and I am HONORED and HUMBLED to be following him.
So my first point — There is an amazing person behind every single Twitter picture. Every single one. Who is Mitch Joel or anybody else to judge who is on the A-List?
Reza and I are now helping each other in a number of ways. We are creating new business benefits. How did it start? With a random, corny tweet.
Second point — Here’s the rule of creating relationships and business benefits through Twitter: You just never know.
You never know who will connect with you, you never know how they will connect with you, and you never know where it will lead. So why would you exclude ANYBODY?
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